oscillate_wildly
Member
Hi everyone,
I am attempting hard cider for the first time (4-5 gallons) with the guidance of a friend who has made it several times before. They have only used a juicer before, so since we are both going to be making cider we have decided to rent a press this coming weekend to make the process less hard. Right now all of my apples are in boxes. Most are picked from the tree but there are a few windfalls in there and some have some blemishes.
My plan is to wash and chop the apples the night before and take the chopped apples the next day to where the press is. I'll then use a food processor to mash before pressing (we don't have a grinder). I have a mix of apples, so I'm planning on adding all of the juice into one large sterilized carboy. I will then take the juice home, add campden tablets and pectic enzyme before separating out into 1 gal jugs (since I want to try a few different yeasts).
I have some questions about prep and avoiding contamination from pressing:
- Should the apples be sterilized e.g. soaked in star san sol before cutting? Most are from the trees but some are from the ground where animals and dogs, some have some squirrel nibbles
- Does it matter if the apples brown before juicing? I suspect that if I chop the night before then I will have brown apples
- Any other advice about pressing?
I know how important it is to be super careful when sterilizing all equipment and containers when brewing. What is throwing me is that it's clearly not possible to sterilize everything while pressing (e.g. the press, apples, etc). I believe that campden tablets only work on yeasts and not bacteria, and I do not intend to pasteurize the juice. I want to make sure that I am not missing something, as surely microbes will get into the juice during the extraction stage.
Thanks everyone!
I am attempting hard cider for the first time (4-5 gallons) with the guidance of a friend who has made it several times before. They have only used a juicer before, so since we are both going to be making cider we have decided to rent a press this coming weekend to make the process less hard. Right now all of my apples are in boxes. Most are picked from the tree but there are a few windfalls in there and some have some blemishes.
My plan is to wash and chop the apples the night before and take the chopped apples the next day to where the press is. I'll then use a food processor to mash before pressing (we don't have a grinder). I have a mix of apples, so I'm planning on adding all of the juice into one large sterilized carboy. I will then take the juice home, add campden tablets and pectic enzyme before separating out into 1 gal jugs (since I want to try a few different yeasts).
I have some questions about prep and avoiding contamination from pressing:
- Should the apples be sterilized e.g. soaked in star san sol before cutting? Most are from the trees but some are from the ground where animals and dogs, some have some squirrel nibbles
- Does it matter if the apples brown before juicing? I suspect that if I chop the night before then I will have brown apples
- Any other advice about pressing?
I know how important it is to be super careful when sterilizing all equipment and containers when brewing. What is throwing me is that it's clearly not possible to sterilize everything while pressing (e.g. the press, apples, etc). I believe that campden tablets only work on yeasts and not bacteria, and I do not intend to pasteurize the juice. I want to make sure that I am not missing something, as surely microbes will get into the juice during the extraction stage.
Thanks everyone!